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I wasn’t the one who coined the words ‘the Gonzi project’. It was MediaToday’s Roger de Giorgio on that programme hosted by would-be PN candidate Georg Sapiano.
This week’s edition of DOKSA can be best described as a veritable disaster for the PM and if secretary-general Joe Saliba and his lieutenants truly believe that dumping a Premier on a table with three lesser mortals and a vainglorious host was good marketing, they had better go back for their cash at Saatchi & Saatchi.
Apart from Sapiano’s grotty disrespect for the stature of the Prime Minister, the programme revealed a tired, quick-tempered Lawrence Gonzi who was very willing to believe his words and very unwilling to accept any suggestion or criticism. I am told that the PM has cut smoking and this has not helped.
That, and the fact that he waited as NET TV aired the Archbishop’s investiture live in what has been an overkill of Episcopalia should excuse him for some of his burnt-out fuse box.
Dr Gonzi even took umbrage at what the Central Bank Governor had to say on the Maltese system of stipends, healthcare and the slow pace of reform.
He was soft gloved with Bertie Mizzi, the man who this week appeared in court (yes, in another libel action stating that he felt libelled because I had quoted what Michael Winner had to say about OBEs in the London Observer, The Guardian and BBC and that Hot Chocolate’s Errol Brown was a rank lower than his OBE).
In his recorded clip, Mizzi said that low cost airlines would only serve to encourage Maltese to go for cheap trips abroad and not to bring over more tourists. He said that the problem was with the product.
If I was the Prime Minister, but I will never be a PM, I would have retorted to Bertie in the same aggressive manner he reacted with the other guests on the panel. “Very well said, Bertie, the problem is the product, and that includes all the townscapes that have been overrun by concrete blocks, of valleys that were once resplendent lush explosions of green, and which now are home to patios and terraces and cemented pathways.”
You know what I mean here. But let’s move on.
The thing that seems to have got Gonzi was Roger de Giorgio’s declaration when he meekly stated that he had still not understood what he described as ‘the Gonzi project’.
That was simply far too much for the PM.
When faced with the argument that university stipends should not be dished out to everyone and recipients should be means-tested, Lawrence Gonzi stood by defending this outdated Mintoffian equation.
When quizzed over pension reform, he shot back and asked de Giorgio if he wanted, as an employer, to pay more for the pensions of his employers. I would hope that pension reform is not only about paying more.
On port reform, he said that just because there was a promise of a 25% decrease in tariffs and a settlement to the issue by the end of the year (2006) it did not mean that the government was not working towards a solution.
I could have slapped myself. Why commit yourself to a date if you cannot keep it? Beats me. This Prime Minister expects us not to ask questions if his social affairs minister promises rent reform but never gets down to implementing it or if his competitiveness and communications minister announces with much pomp that by the end of the year port reform will be concluded and it is not.
In the TV studio one could not help noticing the unpromising rendition of the deputy editor of It-Torca, Aleks Farrugia, and presently the education secretary in the executive committee of the Malta Labour Party. Aleks, a Michael Falzon acolyte who is married to Nathalie Attard’s sister, and whom I recall had briefly flirted with anarchism as the frontman of the short-lived Panoptikon – another clubhouse for pimply students – will be contesting head on Wenzu Mintoff, a former Alternattiva Demokratika founder and now firmly in the Sant camp.
From what I could see Mr Farrugia does not know to debate, or present an argument. He stood no chance with host Sapiano. In Maltese, we would say that little Aleks finds it hard to even take a dump.
I have never seen such a poor performer. If all of Michael Falzon’s officers are of the same class, no wonder they stand no chance against Alfred Sant breed of hungry rotweillers.
Then this Friday, I was invited for lunch with all the editors of the Sunday newspapers, including the Opposition’s papers, at the PM’s summer residence. It was an opportunity to get to understand the PM better and enjoy the spectacular setting at Girgenti.
The PM seethes at the mouth and tells the media that they are not appreciative of his efforts and successes. Perhaps that is correct. We the media are not a bunch of nice guys and gals. But when we start getting all nice and soft our readers abandon us and politicians have to understand this ugly reality.
Painting politicians as nice guys is not what the media is all about. So if he is seeking solace from the media, he should look elsewhere.
I believe that the financial targets he has set out are commendable, and perhaps his biggest achievement was his decision to take on Skanska and install a calendar for them to finally complete Mater Dei.
When I asked him that he had not provided enough of a new face to government, he snapped and said that this was not true. The average age was younger than his predecessor’s cabinet and he had new faces. I gaped at him, “What new faces?”
Tonio Borg’s appointment as deputy Prime Minister was his interjection.
I have decided to give Tonio Borg a long break in the hope that he will invite me for a coffee, so no comments this time round.
But really and truly, we know that the only new blood in the Cabinet are the parliamentary secretaries Helen D’Amato, Frans Agius and Tonio Fenech. I wouldn’t exactly call this cosmetic surgery, but simply an application of mascara.
One of Dr Gonzi’s strong beliefs is that he should “lead”. Now that is more than admirable for a political leader. Yet in his argumentation Dr Gonzi has said that in his mission as a leader he cannot ignore what the majority have to say and his principles.
Principles have little to do with leading. One does not become a leader to represent a segment of society but all strata of society. Which takes me to the argument about divorce.
Gonzi is adamant that divorce should not be introduced in Malta. He believes that the majority are with him, although today’s survey shows that things have changed and will continue to change.
In many countries, the introduction of divorce was seen as a solution to a rapidly changing society. That the PM stands by what he believes should not be put into question but a recognition of a changing society should lead him to offer a way forward.
When women suffragettes combated a majority that opposed women and their right to vote, the chauvinist politicians in their top hats smelt the coffee and amended the law against their beliefs.
Gonzi must cross that fine line and allow for an open debate on issues that have a bearing on a modern society where more women turn to full-time jobs and have a taste of financial independence – a trait that leads to more litigation with the typical dominant males.
Ryanair get five stars for arrogance. Their last statement reads as follows:
“Ryanair has launched 3 routes to Malta in a response to the modest initiative by the Maltese Government and already the boost to tourism which these routes have brought about has been evident in the December figures. If however the Maltese Government is serious about reviving tourism and regaining Malta’s market share in Europe then it should vastly expand this initiative to many other routes so that the disastrous occupancy figures seen in November will not be repeated next year or thereafter.”
Whilst I do not share Uncle Bertie’s views on low cost I think that we should all remember that Ryanair manages to make money and operate in Malta as a result of direct government subsidies, euphemistically termed route support schemes, those subsidies having originated from our taxes.
So every time Ryanair calls for more routes just remember… the money is coming out of your pockets.
The towering block of flats over the Addolorata cemetery is yet another example of how insensitive MEPA has become to the fabric of our townscape. Though Paola is not exactly Beverly Hills, the design and logical consistency in its townhouses and roads offered one of the more interesting examples of town planning. Any town planner will understand this.
The decision to allow for this tower to protrude into the sky led to few comments in the press. The other lonely, colourful phallic monument standing solemnly on an irrelevant roundabout off Luqa airport has led to deluge of letters.
But the phallic symbol can be removed but the skyscraper towering hundreds of tombstones at Addolorata will remain, a monument to a planning authority that has lost a soul it never really had.
Former Labour MP Sandro Schembri some days ago scribbled a letter praising the Lord Jesus Christ. It was his way of telling everyone that he has discovered God and so should everyone else.
He does not say anything about the many unknown individuals who took to the courts and policwwe after having realised the notary had not registered their promise-of-sale agreements, or deposited their government tax.
His discovery of God does not impress me. When Ganni l-Pupa discovered God after having terrorised people all his life, he led everyone to believe he was a changed man. He even conned Eddie Fenech Adami into embracing the reformed Labourite thug, but who later sort of lost God and fell to his death in a failed robbery.
In Korea, people who have done wrong to society make public pronouncements and then disappear for the rest of their lives in Buddhist monasteries in remote mountains. Former Labour MP Sandro Schembri Adami should do us all a favour and emulate the Koreans. And politicians from both sides would do us all a favour if they screened their candidates before catapulting them into the political arena.
sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt
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